Broken Bones and Broken Hearts
by Lizzie Pond
Summary: When Bellatrix is injured playing quidditch and lies in Hospital it gives Andromeda time to think.


**Experimenting with writing styles.**

Watching your 15 year old sister be carried to the Hospital Wing on a stretcher is a strange experience. Second only, to watching the same said sister falling to the earth like a statue and then lying crumpled like a rag doll.

Bellatrix was a Beater in every sense of the world, she was never beaten. She flew like a bird, quick an agile. She could have been a seeker but she needed the violence. She was the only girl on the Slytherin quidditch team. Her future husband was the Captain, Rodolphus and Bella hated each other, on the pitch they tried to beat each other while trying to win the game. They made a good team as Beaters. Rodolphus' brother Rabastan was the Keeper, and a very good one. Slytherin hardly ever lost a match.

The match today was the final. Narcissa and I dressed in our green skirts and blouses and draped around our necks. We were winning but Bella and Rodolphus were hurling insults at each other "Move faster Bellatrix! You're like a flobberworm" Rodolphus had shouted at my sister. She looked over her shoulder to shout back, she didn't see the bludger heading straight for her.

She fell in slow motion, unconscious with no way to save herself. She was knocked off her broom by the force. As she fell her black curls and emerald robes seemed to float around her. It happed too quickly for anyone to do anything. In the time it took to blink Bella was lying in the sand, her limbs stuck out at odd angles. Blood was running over her closed eyelids, her mouth was slightly open like she was gasping.

Narcissa and I sprinted down onto the pitch, when we reached her the teams had landed. We pushed our way through the Gryffindor team. Bella was lying on the ground, broken and dead looking. Rodolphus was kneeling next to her saying her name over and over. Dumbledore ran over put Bella on a stretcher, Cissy and I ran after them.

The whole Slytherin team stood around Bella's bed, moving whenever the matron shouted at them. It took Bella half an hour to wake up, she was awake long enough to ask important questions. Did we win? Answer: No, the game was postponed. What had she broken? Answer: 4 ribs, her leg and collarbone. She also had impressive concussion and cuts and bruises.

She passed out again pretty soon after she asked her questions. The team dissipated, Rodolphus was the first to leave. Narcissa and I sat in hard chairs next to Bella's bed.

The Hospital Wing glowed golden with the setting sun, I've missed dinner. Narcissa had gone to dinner an hour ago, no doubt so she could talk to Lucius Malfoy. She was so proud of her soon to be fiancée. He was a Chaser on the team, he was rich and on the whole charming, but then again how can a 12 year old in her first year of Hogwarts judge? At least she was happy. I was moderately happy with Ted Tonks, a mudblood who I've stumbled in love with.

Bella looks no better, she's paler than usual. Her lip is cut, there's a gash in her eyebrow and she has a black eye. I've been sitting with her all day, I wonder if she'll care when she wakes up. Probably not. I'm getting hungry now, dinner is always delicious and all I've had all day was breakfast. I sit back in my chair still clutching her cold hand. "Still here Miss Black?" it's Dumbledore's calm voice.

"Yes, still here" I smile tiredly. Dumbledore sits in the chair next to me "I've bought you a sandwich, I thought you might be hungry" he hands me a sandwich wrapped in wax paper; he hums quietly as I eat the bacon sandwich. When I finish he says "She's taken quite a blow"

"Yes, she'll be fine if we win the rescheduled match" I say truthfully. If we don't win next time she'll kill someone, honestly. Her rages when she loses are terrible, but thankfully rare. "I'm told Mr Lestrange was here earlier" Dumbledore carries on the conversation.

"He was, probably just making sure he has a Beater and a bride left" I say bitterly, Rodolphus hates my sister; he's only marrying her because she's a Black. I turn to Dumbledore "You must think my family is heartless but honestly they want the best for us" I'm lying to myself now.

"Sadly I think, and I'm sure you think, that your family does everything for gain" Dumbledore said quietly "But I do believe your sister will do great and powerful things" he looks at me, looking through me with his x-ray eyes. He must know that Bella leans towards the dark arts "You'll be braver than her though, when you overcome the chains that bind you" he says it so causally. Like he has seen my future and knows my fate. I want to tell him I'm a 14 year old girl, who's afraid of her 16 year old sister, and is shamefully in love with a mudblood.

Dumbledore's eyes are kind; he walks with me to the common room making pleasant conversation, at one point I ask stupidly "How to you know where the Slytherin common room is?" he smiles at me, I think he's trying not to laugh "As headmaster, I do know where all the common rooms are. Miss Andromeda us teachers do know everything about this school, well no one knows everything but the meaning is there"

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